Islamabad Police Seek Rs1 Billion for PTI, JI Protest Security

The Islamabad Police have asked the federal government for about Rs1 billion to pay for security during planned protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). The request was sent to the Ministry of Interior this week, sources in the federal administration said. The money is meant to rent shipping containers, house and feed thousands of police officers, and buy tear gas and other equipment for the capital.

The request comes at an odd moment. Both parties the police were getting ready for have now delayed their marches to early October. But the containers are already standing on the roads of Islamabad, and the bill is growing every single day.

Where the Money Will Go

According to sources, the money will cover the rent of more than 1,200 containers placed on roads to stop protesters from entering the city. It will also pay for rooms for police officers and daily meals for more than 29,000 security personnel on duty in the capital.

A part of the amount is for sandbags, new tear gas guns, tear gas shells and petrol for police vehicles. Officials have not shared a full list of costs for each item in public.

A report in Dawn on Saturday gave more detail. It said the police first asked for Rs820 million. That amount was meant to cover only one week, from September 27 to October 4. Since PTI has now pushed its march back, police sources told the paper that the cost could nearly double and go past Rs1 billion.

Containers Cost Millions Every Day

Containers are the biggest expense. The All Pakistan Goods Alliance, which speaks for transporters and container owners, first asked for Rs40,000 a day for a 40 foot container and Rs20,000 for a 20 foot one. Later it settled on Rs30,000 a day for both sizes.

Dawn reported that the government will pay Rs46.5 million per day for 1,550 containers. That comes to Rs325.5 million for one week and Rs651 million for two weeks. Different reports give different numbers of containers, so the exact total is not yet confirmed.

Other costs are also adding up. About 70 coasters have been rented at Rs15,000 a day each, along with 30 double cabin vehicles at Rs10,000 a day each. The police have also booked 175 rooms in 13 hotels for senior officers coming from other areas.

The capital police asked for 16,000 officers from Punjab and 2,000 from Sindh. The Sindh team has reached Islamabad and is staying in marquees at the Police Lines Headquarters, near Faisal Mosque and at a community centre in G-13. Each officer gets three meals a day worth Rs600, so feeding the Sindh team alone costs Rs1.2 million a day. As of Friday evening, the Punjab team had still not arrived, Dawn reported.

Truck Drivers and Traders Pay the Price

Many of these containers were not handed over by choice. The chairman of the Goods Alliance, Nisar Hussain Jaffri, told Dawn that police in Islamabad and Punjab had taken about 2,700 vehicles along with their crews. He said around 450 of these trucks were loaded with goods, including medicines, food and chemicals.

He said the drivers were not formally arrested, but they were kept at police stations and their phones, keys and papers were taken away. He also claimed that about 400 vehicles and their crews were still missing. The police have not given their own figures, so these claims could not be checked.

Earlier this month, container owners told Pakistan Today that some seized trucks were carrying insulin and other medicines from Karachi. They were worried that the heat could spoil these medicines if the trucks stood still for long. So far, the police have not decided whether to release the containers or keep them for October.

Why PTI and JI Delayed Their Marches

PTI had called a long march and sit-in in Islamabad for September 27. Its main demand is the release of party founder Imran Khan, who is held in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. On Friday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi announced that the march has been moved to October 4, when he will leave Peshawar with party workers.

Reports say the new date will let PTI workers be in Islamabad on October 5, which is Imran Khan's birthday. A senior PTI leader told Dawn that the delay was also meant to tire out the government, which had already closed roads and was spending large sums. Afridi said the capital had been turned into a "container city". Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, however, said PTI backed out because it had no real preparation.

Jamaat-e-Islami began a train march from Karachi on September 20 against the petroleum levy, a tax on petrol and diesel that brings the government a lot of money. When the march reached Multan on September 22, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called JI chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman from New York and asked him to wait. JI agreed to pause the march until talks with the prime minister, but said its sit-ins across the country would go on. The government has said its agreement with the IMF makes it hard to cut the levy.

What This Means for Ordinary Pakistanis

All of this money comes from public funds. It is being spent at a time when Pakistan is under an IMF programme and families are already struggling with high fuel prices. Every extra day that the containers stay on the roads adds millions of rupees to the bill.

People in Islamabad and Rawalpindi also face blocked roads, long detours and delays in reaching offices, schools and hospitals. The Red Zone, which has Parliament, the Supreme Court and foreign embassies, has been sealed off. The federal government has also deployed Rangers in Islamabad and several Punjab districts until October 5.

Business owners are feeling the pain as well. With thousands of trucks held by police, goods are stuck and supply across the country has slowed. If both PTI and JI return to the streets in early October, the capital could face another long round of closures.

For now, the big question is whether the Interior Ministry will approve the full Rs1 billion, and whether the containers will stay on the roads for another week. Talks between the government and the two parties could still change the picture. Until then, Islamabad remains a city of containers, and the cost of keeping it that way keeps rising.